Quebec will present itself in great shape at the Paris Olympic Games next year. In running as much as in swimming or gymnastics, local athletes benefit from increasingly favorable conditions over the years. Overview with five promising athletes.
The time for revenge has come
Charles Philibert-Thiboutot never had it easy. The 33-year-old long-distance runner suffered bad luck after bad luck. “From 2017 to 2020, I wasn’t able to do more than three months of training in a row without injuring something. It was an extremely difficult period,” he said in an interview. The pandemic was ultimately a “blessing in disguise” for the semi-finalist at the Rio Games. “Since there was no more competition, I was able to just focus on rehabilitation, making sure I got back healthy, and then doing the necessary work in physiotherapy. » Even back on the race track, and at the top of his form, he had to give up participation in Tokyo due to the “70 km/h winds” which were blowing during qualifying. This time will be the good one. He does not “set limits” regarding the objectives, aims for “a podium” and his preparation team is better than ever, he assures. “When I started, in Quebec, there was nothing happening. We had no Quebec athletes who were members of the national teams, or almost none. I have the impression that in Quebec, for a long time, in the years before I arrived, we were spectators of what was being done elsewhere in Canada and elsewhere in the United States, whereas here, now we participate. We have more complexes. »And we win, when our health is good and we have the wind at our backs.
The young people are pushing behind the elder’s back
The thirties surprised Katerine Savard. The most experienced athlete on the national swimming team has seen her body plateau over time, but also her sport change since she started at the age of 15. “We had a few stars. But now, we have dozens of stars,” she says, full of confidence. Katerine Savard was from the generation of the first Canadian swimmers to win medals in 40 years, in 2016. Now, there is jostling at the starting blocks. “Our place on the national team is not acquired: we must earn it, in the sense that there is competition. To do the relay in Paris, we are 15 girls who have the potential to do the 4×200 m. We have to fight for our place, nothing is taken for granted. » Her 17-year-old colleague, Summer McIntosh, has been collecting international medals since Tokyo and risks stealing the show. The Quebecer does not let herself be daunted, quite the contrary. “They are the ones who push me,” she insists. “I still want to have that caliber. I want to fight again against these girls to deserve it. » Her place in Paris is not yet assured, and she will have to wait for the qualifications next May before knowing with certainty if she will be in these Games. Especially since there is “a strong chance” that these will be his last: “It’s not the desire to stop that’s there. I think it’s more my body. »
A new guy ready to break it all in gymnastics
Félix Dolci must go through several more competitions before the “Olympic” day. At 21, with a Pan-American gold medal in his pocket, he certainly “aspires” to a Parisian medal. Thanks to a new coach, Adrian Balan, Romanian of origin, and his powerful and “quasi-military” exercise methods, the entire Canadian team will be one to watch, he points out. “I would say that 80% of the national team athletes are at the Olympic Stadium, live in Montreal or train in Quebec. I would even say that athletes from British Columbia or Ontario now move to live in Montreal, Quebec, and train with us because they know that the conditions are better suited. » Will Quebec gymnastics survive for a moment in 2024? Certainly, according to him. “We really have a succession of Quebecers who have come in force, in my opinion, largely because of my coach who led all these athletes so that we could come up together. » In the end, gymnastics remains an individual sport that fits an athlete like Félix Dolci like a glove. At 10 years old, he was already winning all the victories at the Quebec Games. “The pressure is not overwhelming at all,” assures the one that acrobatics fans should keep an eye on. “All it takes is two guys to fall, one guy to fall, you have a great performance, and all the cards can change. »
Raising the hurdle bar
Jean-Simon Desgagnés is national steeplechase champion, this unique 3000 m race where hurdles are followed by a pool of water. “The slightly more technical aspect, a little more non-monotonic, with the hurdles and obstacles, it adds something different,” means the 26-year-old athlete. “And I’m doing really well there. It’s something that represents me well, that represents my personality well. I like things a little different. » Today “practically qualified” for Paris, he is aiming for a top-5 finally. A rigorous training sequence awaits him first in the coming months. “Pasta that overflows from the plate” too, confides the young man, although very thin. This long race to the top, he owes a lot to the investments of the City of Quebec and Laval University in high-level sport, one of their trademarks, he thanks in passing. “They are the ones who gave me the most to reach this place. Laval University, with the Rouge et Or, everything they gave me in terms of coaches, structure, it’s crazy! After that, Quebec City has exceptional facilities. » It is therefore, among others, thanks to them that Canada can boast today of being included in the top-2 countries in the world in athletics.
The weight of victory
Maude Charron won her first Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games. The one in Paris will be a little heavier to lift. The weightlifting champion changed weight categories, quite simply because her old bracket no longer appears on the event calendar. “I will always remain an Olympic champion because my title will always be there, and there is no longer anyone who will be able to win it,” jokes the Rimouskoise. Except that in Paris the gaze of the public and her family will weigh on her, this time very present in the stands. Worse, by changing weight category, she found herself competing with three other Olympic champions. “The level is incredibly high,” she admits. To adjust, she changed trainers, bought a house with her partner and preferred to reduce her weight rather than increase it. Nothing to shake the determination of the experienced athlete who continues, as always, to train “all alone” in her garage the majority of the time. “I made a lot of decisions, but they were all ultimately good decisions. » “Completely different” Olympic Games finally await the weightlifter who is barely 1.50 m (5 feet) tall. It’s a new Maude Charron that we’ll see walking the carpets of Paris. “I don’t see my gold medal in Tokyo as a necessary pressure to repeat the same thing. »